Washington, D.C. – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke on the House Floor in strong opposition to the extreme MAGA Republican bill that would unnecessarily increase voter disenfranchisement and distrust of our elections.

JEFFRIES: Thank you to the distinguished gentleman, the Ranking Member of the House Administration Committee, for his tremendous leadership. I rise today in strong opposition to this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill.

The right to vote is sacred. The right to vote is special. The right to vote is sacrosanct. The right to vote is central to the integrity of our democracy. It’s the foundation of the principle of government of the people, by the people and for the people. The problem is, apparently, my extreme MAGA Republican colleagues have concluded that rather than trying to win a debate and the hearts and minds of the American people anchored in ideas, they’ve chosen instead as a strategy to engage in voter suppression.

There is no evidence that has been presented to suggest that undocumented individuals have been participating in federal elections. Republicans who investigated these allegations, in their own committee, have been unable to document these allegations. It is unconstitutional. It is the state of the law that only citizens can vote in federal elections. Only citizens can vote for the House of Representatives. Only citizens can vote for the United States Senate. Only citizens can vote for the presidency of the United States.

So this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill is not designed to solve any problem on behalf of the American people. It is designed to jam people up and prevent Americans from voting. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill will not allow Americans to vote who have a state issued driver’s license. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill will not allow Americans who are serving in the military to use their military ID, while they’re serving this country, to vote. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill won’t allow young people, college students, who are attending state universities all across the land, who have been issued college IDs through their state colleges and universities, to vote. There’s a big difference between the House Democratic view of free and fair elections, the peaceful transfer of power and government of the people, by the people and for the people and the extreme MAGA Republican view. House Democrats want to make it easier to vote and harder to obtain weapons of war. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier to deploy weapons of war. Weapons, by the way, not used to hunt deer but to hunt children in classrooms and human beings.

So, the extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill has given us an opportunity, again, to communicate with the American people on the difference between our values, House Democrats, putting People Over Politics, focus on the things that matter like lower costs, growing the middle class, ending price gouging, defending democracy and fighting for reproductive freedom. We embrace having a debate with our extreme MAGA Republican colleagues about issues that matter.

Why won’t you just take your issues to the American people? Why are you trying to hide your plans that are connected to Trump’s Project 2025 publicly, but then you come to the House Floor and you bring this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill that is part of the blueprint of Trump’s Project 2025? You can’t fool the American people. They’re smarter than you think. You don’t want to have a real debate about issues. Why? Because the extreme MAGA Republicans want to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban. They’re trying to hide that now from the American people, stripping it from their convention platform. We know what you really want to do. You put the Justices, the extreme MAGA Republicans, put the Justices on the Supreme Court who detonated Roe v. Wade. That’s your agenda. That’s part of Trump’s Project 2025.

You don’t want to debate the issues. You want to suppress the right to vote. Why? Because Trump’s Project 2025, which is part of your platform, wants to detonate and destroy the Department of Education, which the American people don’t support. You don’t really want to embrace the ability for young people of every race, of every part of America, including the heartland of America, in rural America, in Appalachia, in suburban America to get a high quality public education. That’s what Trump’s Project 2025 is about. But you don’t really want to have a discussion about that. You don’t want that exposed to the American people.

So we’re on the Floor right now with an extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill that does nothing because the law is already clear. Non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections. And so we’re going to continue to do everything we can to make sure that the American people can participate in free and fair elections, have the freedom to determine their own destiny by exercising their right to vote in an uncompromised and unfettered fashion as opposed to engaging in this type of frivolous legislative activity, at best, perhaps designed as a cover, already trying to set up an excuse for what may happen in November, just like what was done in advance of January 6.

Full speech can be watched here.